Resident Evil Outbreak File #2

"Second verse, same as the first. Is Capcom even listening?"

The second in Capcom's online survival-horror series does little to improve over it's predecessor, as many faults of the original title still linger in this upgrade.

The core element of the game remains the same: Eight survivors of a T-Virus outbreak must work together as a team to survive five non-related scenarios taking place all over Raccoon City. Along the way players can interact with others, share items, save other characters, etc.

Load times have improved from the previous title, but you'll still be waiting up to ten second to go from room to room.

Graphically the game still looks great. It's no Snake Eater, but it's certainly more than you could get from CODE: Veronica X or Dead Aim. So no complaints here.

Despite coming out after the critically-acclaimed Resident Evil 4, Outbreak File #2 does not share the improved engine of it's GameCube counterpart. Players must still survive with classic Resident Evil controls, with a camera system that is still out to haunt them. Some new elements have been added - such as the ability to walk while keeping a weapon at the ready, and picking up items while knocked to the ground.

Players still must communicate with others via a series of prepared statements such as Go, Come, Help, and Thanks by using the right control stick. This can result in a lot of confusion and death as players are unable to coordinate as well as other online games, such as SOCOM II. Two additional commands have been added - the ability to apologize, and if you're looking at your map, the ability to state a room.

I realize that these commands helps the players to remain in character, but this is just getting ridiculous. A keyboard or USB headset support seriously needed to be implemented. Just add some voice modulation like in SOCOM II and you could have people sounding just like their characters. Gameplay would be much smoother, easier, and more fun if players could communicate like this.

Offline gameplay has it's own series of setbacks. Players may be glad to now be able to choose their own partners for offline play, but there's a downside - Capcom has set specifically how certain characters interact with others. There's a 66% chance you'll pick someone who follows every command and keeps with the group, but the rogue 33% will defy orders, run ahead, and leave the player behind. This in no way helps to make the game fun. They're still not that bright either. Without spoiling anything, one scenario involves land mines on the ground. Players usually need not be concerned about accidentally detonating them, because the AIPCs will usually run blindly into them and set them off.

Outbreak File #2 still has five storyless scenarios, but has implemented two sets of three games for players to enjoy a break from the norm: Showdown and Elimination. In Showdown, characters will take on bosses from File #1, File #2, and both in a gauntlet match with boss after boss until they are all defeated or the party is wiped out. In Elimination, characters engage in a CODE: Veronica X-esque Battle Mode, where they must swarm a series of rooms wiping out every enemy in their path. As with CVX, the rooms are not connected by scenario, so you could be standing in a hallway from Below Freezing Point one minute, and in the middle of the Raccoon Zoo the next.

A basic non-spoiler breakdown of the five scenarios are as follows:

WILD THINGS: Players stranded inside the Raccoon Zoo at the start of the outbreak must escape it through the other end, and endure the hospitality of mutated toucans, hyenas, lions, and an elephant.

UNDERBELLY: Feeling ripped from Silent Hill 3 & 4, players seek refuge from the zombie onslaught in the Raccoon Subway. Capcom's dying creativity becomes evident when players must deal with...giant fleas!?

FLASHBACK: Seen massively in trailers for the original Outbreak, characters have taken refuge in the Raccoon forest and try to escape to the next town. But there's a giant derelict hospital standing in their way. And if you thought Leech Man in The Hive was annoying, just WAIT until you see Axe Man. It's not just a clever name.

DESPERATE TIMES: Perhaps one of the better scenarios, players must aid the remnants of the police force to escape the RPD. However, Chief Iron's tyranny isn't limited to just Resident Evil 2 - tear gas is activates in the department's rooms at random to ensure that players don't get too comfortable.

END OF THE ROAD: For one reason or another, the players seek refuge inside an Umbrella laboratory. They must escape it, and Raccoon City if they hope to evade the impending missile attack on Raccoon.

Also with the previous Outbreak, a massive amount of extra material is up for grabs, such as unlocking cutscenes for casual observance, or extra characters for use off or online. Also for players of the previous game, they can import their unlocked characters from the first game to the second, and instantly have extra characters to choose from besides the standard eight. Also in a fun showing of backwards compatibility, players can export their unlocked characters of File #2 to the original Outbreak and use them there.

The online environment of File #2 differs from that of the first title, but the problem is it's intended to accommodate a large crowd of players - Something that File #2 lacks (Usual number of online people is 200). There were actually two servers, but Capcom closed the second one due to poor showing. There are up to ten areas that players can choose to enter, but the problem with this approach is it divides up what small an online population the game has, and some of these areas are never used. For example there is a Free Area, a Free Area HDD Only, and a Free Area DVD-Rom Only. Additionally there is also a Nightmare Area (Very Hard becomes a walk in the park compared to this), a Survival Area (Friendly Fire is turned on), and a special area (Players can take part in games where they can earn increased amounts of result points, or extra items). Finally, there is an area for each difficulty of the game.

If the server was packed to capacity (2000), I could see these areas being useful, but being realistic, the only areas needed are Free Area, Free Area HDD, Nightmare, Survival, and Special. The rest are just a waste.

One added feature that does make it more fun is that characters of the same type can now be used in the same game. For example if someone were to use Kevin, Kevin-type characters such as Raymond or Luke could not be used. Now they can.

While fun, longtime Resident Evil fans may have trouble staying true to File #2, especially online. When compared to the ease of use of the current grand-daddy PS2 online game SOCOM II, it can't hold a candle to it.

As a sequel, this game had potential, but some of the problems of the first game that could be forgiven a year ago simply cannot be ignored this time around. Capcom had better be relying on improving the game by leaps and bounds if a third title is released, because if the shrinking Outbreak fanbase is their only audience, there won't be anyone online for a third Outbreak offering.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/05